Reunited at LVC: Two Graduating Seniors Tell their Story

ANNVILLE, PA (05/03/2012)(readMedia)-- In just over a week, friends Ryan Humphries and Ryan Grusemeyer will make the long awaited procession to shake Lebanon Valley College President Stephen MacDonald's hand and accept their diplomas. Like many graduating seniors, Grusemeyer and Humphries expect the experience to be bittersweet. "I've had a great time these past four years at this school, met a lot of people, made a lot of great friends, but I feel like I'm ready to move on and I'm prepared to enter the real world," Grusemeyer said.

When Grusemeyer and Humphries look back on their college career and their friendship, their memories extend well beyond the year 2008, their first year at LVC. The pair met as young Little League Baseball players at age 9.

"We were a pretty successful team," said Grusemeyer, "we won back to back state titles when we were 9- and 10-years-old."

The two fell out of touch for about five years but Humphries remembers how he found out Grusemeyer was attending LVC. "I swam and Goose wrestled so we'd always see each other in the local paper. He had picked up his hundredth career victory so they did a profile on him and said he was going to Lebanon Valley College."

The two connected over MySpace and talked about rooming together, but decided to try to meet new people. Yet it seemed being roommates was meant to be.

"One day I got the letter in the mail and it said 'To Ryan Grusemeyer, your roommate is Ryan Humphries,'" Grusemeyer laughed, "so that was pretty cool."

After rooming together their freshman year, both became RAs. "Without that I don't know who I would've roomed with," Humphries said, "I don't know that I could've roomed with anyone else."

Humphries will graduate with a degree in elementary and special education while Grusemeyer will graduate with a degree in actuarial science. When asked what they will miss most about LVC, both agreed that they will never forget the relationships they made with people at the College.

"I've definitely made a lot of strong bonds with students here, with faculty, with people in the community, with other administrators, and I think that's what made this time here really great," reflected Grusemeyer.

Click here to watch the full interview to hear more of their story and reflections on graduating from Lebanon Valley College.